By the end of the month Dr. Garrett Anderson and Dr. Flora Murray had moved into the quarters at Endell Street, which they continued to occupy until April 1919. And the work of preparation was progressing rapidly. Under Mr. Cook’s influence, the workmen gave up their Easter holiday, and every one pressed forward eagerly. Indents were drawn up and sent in for the furniture and medical stores required, and gradually the supplies were delivered. Several years later, Major B—— told Dr. Flora Murray with what interest the first indents from Endell Street had been scanned at the Horse Guards, and how surprising it had been to find that they were right.
The furniture arrived before the lifts were ready and in quantities which the small R.A.M.C. contingent could not deal with. Fatigue parties, therefore, from the various regiments stationed in London were obtained, and the furniture and equipment were distributed through the buildings.
At this stage, a very kind old gentleman—not in uniform—came into the square and inquired how we were getting on. He said that he was the Officer in Charge of Barracks, and that the indents for furniture, linen, etc., went through his office. In conversation he stated that he was in his eightieth year, and he showed a friendly interest in the plans for the hospital. He had two daughters who were both suffragists.
‘One,’ he said, ‘belongs to a most respectable society,’ then dropping his voice, ‘but the other—she goes with Mrs. Pankhurst’s lot.’
Perhaps his hearers, who had also gone with ‘Mrs. Pankhurst’s lot’ in the suffrage days, did not look as shocked as he expected; for he added kindly:
‘I daresay you may not have heard of Mrs. Pankhurst.’
One morning, as he watched a fatigue party fall in in the square, he asked:
‘Now, do you get any work out of these fellows?’
‘Yes,’ answered Dr. Garrett Anderson, ‘there is a woman placed at the bottom of the stairs to send them up, and another at the top to send them down again, and they get quite a lot done.’
‘Poor fellows, poor fellows,’ said the major. ‘Very energetic ladies! Oh! we are not accustomed to that in the Army.’